Community Ecology

The Earth is losing species at a higher rate than at any other time since the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.

Research at the BRC aims to identify factors that determine the species composition of a community and how the composition of a community affects core ecosystem functions, such as carbon fixation and decomposition, as well as the dynamical stability of the community. For example, by mimicking the extinction of species experimentally, research at the Centre reveals the broad changes in ecosystems that we might expect as a result of species loss from the biota.